Congressional Hispanic Caucus to meet with Boehner: immigration reform on agenda

By Jacquellena Carrero, NBCLatino

For the first time in his tenure as Speaker, John Boehner (R-Ohio) will meet with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

During the meeting with the all-Democratic caucus, immigration reform will be a hot topic. Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said on MSNBC that the Congressional Hispanic Caucus will not pressure  Boehner to force a vote, but instead work on collaborating with the Republican Speaker to get legislation passed.

On Tuesday, Speaker Boehner made headlines when she said he would not advance any immigration reform bill that did not have the support of House Republican majority.

“I don’t see any way of bringing an immigration bill to the floor that doesn’t have a majority support of Republicans,” Boehner said during a press briefing with reporters Tuesday. “I frankly think the Senate bill is weak on border security, I think the internal enforcement mechanisms are weak and the triggers are almost laughable.”

But Gutierrez said the key was seeing how legislation could get passed.

“When we meet with the Speaker, number one we are going to extend to him our cooperation, and ask him how is it that we collaborate so that we can get it done,” he said.

Gutierrez also talked about the meeting’s significance.

“It’s unprecedented at least for me to watch 25 Democrats walk in to meet with a Republican speaker of the House.”

This article was first published in NBCLatino.

Jacquellena Carrero, Freelance web producer: Jacquellena is a multimedia journalist with a passion for writing and working behind the camera. Jacquellena is proud of her Puerto Rican roots and hopes to get more stories on Latinos into the mainstream news media. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Political Science in Spring 2013.